I knew a man who had suffered one way or another over the whole course of his life. When he was old, I remember hearing him say that, by experience he’d learned that “The Devil always overplays his hand.”
Thought of his comment during this last week. Was wondering, “What was Satan thinking when he entered Judas?” (Luke 22:3)
A few weeks earlier, Jesus had started telling his disciples he was going to have to go to Jerusalem where would suffer at the hands of religious leaders, die, and rise again. Peter says, “Not you Lord” and Jesus says, “Get behind me Satan” (Matt 16:23). I’ve taken that to mean that by not wanting Jesus to die, Peter was unintentionally lining up with Satan who, for other reasons, also didn’t want Jesus to die.
In the past, I’d put that together with what happened about 3 years earlier. Satan had tempted a weakened Jesus in the wilderness. The Devil’s last offer was to give the Son of God the kingdoms of the world without a fight if Jesus would just bow to the Prince of Darkness (Matt 4). I’d assumed that Satan was offering to give Jesus the kingdoms of the world—without having to die. But now am wondering whether I’d been reading back into that conversation more than Satan knew at the time.
Now, Satan enters into Judas to betray Jesus.
What was the Evil One thinking? Is there a logic? Or is the point that even the shrewdest example of evil is irrational and self-defeating in self-love and hatred for others?
Whatever the answer, one thing was clear. Our Savior was on theme. He had come to die. Maybe he was even giving a rebel leader an unintentional hand in his own defeat.
As together we celebrate an empty tomb, and the proof of our own rescue, maybe we can also be comforted by the fact that God can use the worst mischief and darkest strategies of Satan—to beat the devil in his own game.
Maybe Satan does always overplay his hand. It was certainly so, on the day that Mary said to a man she did not yet recognize, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him.” (John 20:13).
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